#centuryshaper

"Hey!" the element of surprise is how he manages to push them off, then he's immediately tugging at their bruised victim, using all of his strength. 

It's a little boy, looks about his age except for how he won't or can't put up a fight. Lots of soft dark hair, flashing cat eyes and purpled, delicate skin. 

Steve knows why they want to hurt this boy, knows they can easily get away with it, knows not many people would miss him if they did--but he won't let it happen. 

Because this boy might grow up to be something deadly and feral, but he's no different from the kittens his ma feeds right now. Worse than harmless, young and innocent. 

The boys let him go because Sarah Rogers is the reason half the people in this desert don't hack their lungs out when the seasons change. He hopes this meager veil of protection holds, because Steve's a runt who can't fight for himself, let alone anybody else. 

Sarah stitches the kitten boy up and offers him a nickname, even, 'Bucky' for how he's prone to jump like an animal at threat or surprise. 

She spoils the boy who isn't her son rotten the way Steve never wanted her to, carries him around until he's stronger than her and accepts his sandpaper licks of affection with the grace his own mother probably wouldn't.